FEATURED STORY: "Written on the body: Tattoos go mainstream"

"People used to spit at me and throw stones at me when I walked down the street with lots of tattoos...but now they ask me where I got them and if I can give them a better price." - Simon White, co-owner of Wildfire Tattoos.

LONG gone are the days when tattoos were the sole preserve of vagabonding sailors, white supremacists and hardened criminals. So long gone, in fact, that it's trite, even a little embarrassing, to mention it. You can't switch on the TV or open a magazine without seeing some sports star or celeb sporting new ink. And you'd be amazed at how much body art hides beneath the collar and tie corporate armour worn by those in big business. It might even be surprising for some if the annual budget meeting was held in the buff: "The boss has a tattoo where?" > READ MORE AND COMMENT

 

Nomafu "Queen" Mlamla

QUEEN is all smiles as I walk into Shoprite Macassar to meet with her. It all started a few months ago when Big Issue vendors were given the opportunity to write a prerequisite assessment test for potential employment at Shoprite stores throughout the Western Cape. Queen was one of a few whose test marks impressed the assessment officer.

From there it was two months of waiting and then, to her delight, came the news that she had been offered a position as merchandiser for Nestlé products at the Shoprite store in Macassar. She has only been working there for two months but is already popular with her colleagues. When asked if she is enjoying her new job she replies with a hearty laugh: "Too much".

There is another reason for Queen's good mood on this particular ...
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Our latest blog

Get a glimpse of the behind-the-scenes workings of THE BIG ISSUE by visiting our blog.

When I first read Saliem Fakir's comment piece on Julius Malema (published in the latest edition of The Big Issue under the headline "Malema's nobody's muppet"), I was hesitant to run it. I wasn't concerned about caus...
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VISION

The Big Issue is a socially responsible non-profit organisation that enables willing unemployed and marginalised adults to take responsibility for their own lives through a developmental employment programme.

MISSION

To publish a saleable, quality magazine that serves as an economically viable job-creation tool offering developmental self-employment opportunities to marginalised adults to enable them to move from social exclusion to self-sufficiency.

To create a platform that promotes the principles of social responsibility.

To empower beneficiaries to achieve the dignity of independence through life intervention and skills development programmes.

To achieve organisational self-sustainability through socially responsible income-generating activities.